Career Tips Guides

Building an Internet presence is something many people have invested a lot of time into - and many are absolutely blowing a great opportunity to further their professional objectives. I’m constantly amazed at the number of individuals unfortunately unaware of how simple changes to their networking profiles can turn their networking profiles into powerful tools that actually impact their business objectives.

Granted not everyone joins networking platforms to further their professional objectives, and that is obviously fine. I’ve personally developed a number of great relationships that have nothing to do with business objectives through on-line networking platforms.

For those that do care about how on-line networking platforms can further their professional objectives, an Internet presence can be developed in a very short amount of time simply through the profile you create on a networking platform such as Ecademy, LinkedIn, et al. Unfortunately the way many people construct their networking profile, it does nothing for them from a business exposure perspective.

Heidi Heyns has been kind enough to let me use her as an example. Heidi and I are connected on LinkedIn and Ecademy. She is a wonderful caring vibrant personality who absolutely excels at her profession of - voice-over actor. When I first saw Heidi was on Ecademy, I Googled her name, and sure enough, this was what I found:

Heidi Heyns - Ecademy Profile
I am So completely Filled with Light at all the LOVE I have experienced in this place called ecademy… If you are new, PLEASE say hello and if you ask, …

I recommended to Heidi if she cared about actually generating business leads as a result of belonging to Ecademy, as opposed simply enjoy the social aspects of Ecademy, she should make some simple changes to her profile. I explained that once Google grabbed the new more descriptive text from her Ecademy profile it would be more supportive of her business objectives.

She made the recommended changes such that her Ecademy profile hit in Google now looks like this:

Heidi Heyns - Ecademy Profile
Commercial voice-over actor, message impact expert and consultant. I can help you not just reach, but also more effectively appeal to your target audience.

Shortly after implementing these changes, Heidi sent me a note that said:

“OH wow! …Ron! Have you seen my new revised profile??? I am getting completely different kinds of emails… BUSINESS emails!”

On a site like Ecademy, you can actually drive what the descriptive text says in Google given Ecademy basically supplies the first 150 characters of what you type in the “Profile Text:” box when creating your profile. The search engines like Google use this as the descriptive text below the hit link. This is extremely powerful.

Unfortunately, you can’t do this on all networking platforms. Some networking platforms only provide the search engines with generic descriptive text you can’t control. The search engines then use this generic text below the hit link such as LinkedIn et al.

LinkedIn: Heidi Heyns
Heidi Heyns’s professional profile on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a networking tool that helps users like Heidi Heyns, …

By simply making a small adjustment to your networking profile content on sites such as Ecademy where you can drive the descriptive hit text, you create a useful hit in Google that actually has a chance of adding to your Internet presence in a way that is supportive of your business objectives.

Happy Networking.

Ron Bates is an expert in mission critical retained executive search. As recognized expert in building an on-line personal Internet presence, Ron has been referred to as “the most connected man on Earth” with +27,000 direct contacts on on-line professional networking platforms. Find Ron’s blog “Internet Presence - Do you exist?” at http://www.search-advantage.com

Real estate is a convenient marriage of two different words from French and English with real coming from ‘Royale’ and ‘estate’ being an English word, representing immovable property. The term royale represented the monarchies in royal estates of the earlier eras. It has now transformed into real over time with monarchies coming down and economies presenting opportunities for everyone to own any piece of property under the sun. This presented two new lines of business: Real Estate Broking and Real Estate Agency.

Just The Facts, Ma’am

According to one estimate by “The Economist”, real estate assets in the United States equal a whopping $62 trillion, which is a big 54% of their entire asset value. It may be hard to believe that the portion of residential properties amounts to $48 trillion out of that mind- blowing figure. This stands as a testimony to the demand and supply of real estate assets and thus why real estate is such a high-growth field.

A total of $61 billion was paid in commission to real estate brokers in 2004 alone. And a good part of this huge money goes to the licensed agents serving them.

Real Estate Business - No One Promised You A Rose Garden

If you are considering a career in real estate as an agent, it is wise to know the pitfalls before beginning. No agent these days can make it big by working only on the weekends for a couple of hours. Since an agent is the face of a broker, and is required to split the revenues with the broker, he needs to work full time (and then some) in order to earn a good income. Getting sucked into the profession by looking at the successful and most visible agents alone would be a mistake.

How Does One Become A Real Estate Agent

The criteria set by the law and respective state governments vary with respect to licensing, but here are the general requirements:

- You must be at least 18 years old and a high school graduate
- Must take a qualifying course of 30 hours
- After passing, you must work as real estate sales person under a broker for one year in to be eligible to apply for a real estate agent’s license

If you are knowledgeable about real estate regulations and laws by having worked for a minimum of 2 years for your employer, you can directly apply for the license once you pass the examination required by the Secretary of State.

Additional knowledge and experience such as overall economics and economic indicators, mathematics and property law is also helpful. But what decides the success of your career is the good will you earn with clients. You need to be gregarious, persistent and knowledgeable.

How much can you expect to earn? This is subjective and there are major and minor aspects that affect this. However, as a successful real estate agent you have a potential to earn anywhere from $54,000 to $75,000. There are agents who are earning more than $100,000 a year, but these have several years of experience under their belts.

The great thing about it is that your earning potential is limited only by your own abilities and the amount of work that you put in. So work hard for a few years and you can quickly find yourself among the top agents in your state!

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta
Solution’s Six Sigma Online offers online href="http://www.sixsigmaonline.org">six sigma training and certification
classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.

Ventriloquism is almost as old as the world, or at least as old as intelligible spoken language. Just when and where in the past it had its origin will forever remain unknown. Unlike other arts, it was not brought to perfection through the slow development and the passage of time. By its very nature it must have sprung into existence full grown, like Venus from the sea.

Although there is no positive proof, it is fair to assume that many of the occurrences involving the assistance of an apparently supernatural voice, were feats of ventriloquism. Such marvels are inexplicable, if not pure fiction, except as the work of deception through the aid of ventriloquism. Many old superstitions were fostered in early civilization this way.

The belief in a `second voice,` or `familiar spirit` was very common. It was often said that the form of a spirit was evoked and consulted by divination to learn the right course of action for important occasions. This divination was practiced in many different semi-barbaric races of the ancient world and can be traced through a long period of time. This `second voice` was most likely the product of ventriloquism.

By the Mosaic Law, the Jews were forbidden to consult those having familiar spirits. However, the Hebrews were accustomed to `the voice` being used in divination during their captivity in Egypt. It is believed that Isaiah my have been comparing it to the power of sanctified utterance where he says (Isaiah 29: 4): `And thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.`

Just where the Egyptians obtained their knowledge of the art is uncertain, but a seemingly unearthly voice palyed an important part in the performance of the `mysteries` as part of their worship of Osiris. As the voices described match what has been peculiarly identified with ventriloquism, the practice of this art by unscrupulous priests would seem to seem to explain the mystery.

Ventriloquism Unveiled

If there is any doubt as to the role ventriloquism played in this divination of a familiar spirit, there is none in the gatromancy employed by the Greeks. In this the voice of the `spirit` made its oracular replies apparently from the priest`s belly, the diviner himself standing with an impassive countenance and unmoving lips.

In modern times, Louis Brabant, Valet de Chambre of Francis I, greatly impressed a rich and beautiful heiress with the aid of his wonderful talent as a ventriloquist. The works of M. L`Abbe La Chappelle, published in 1772, contain references to the astonishing ven-triloquial achievements of Baron Menge at Vienna and those of M. St. Gille, a grocer living near Paris.

Ventriloquism does require some particular qualities of voice, such as strength, clearness, flexibility, ready ability to change at will, ordinary strength in the cartilaginous membrane of the throat, the muscles of the abdominal regions and an aptitude for mimicry, A person with a defective ear can not sing in tune or imitate sounds correctly because he has nothing to guide him in his own efforts. He may be endowed with every other prerequisite for the musical or the mimetic art, but his inability to accurately distinguish tone or pitch renders him unable to sing or imitate sounds.

There are very few people, however, whose ear is so imperfect that they cannot sing a little or imitate something. About eight out of ten could, with practice and perseverance, become acceptable if not great ventriloquists. There is nothing really special about the art, although the effects produced by a good performer may seem so. If one has the qualities mentioned, he can soon become a ventriloquist. The progress made will depend on the aptitude and faithfulness of the student.

The feminine voice does not readily lend itself to ventriloquism like the masculine does, but it is not impossible for a woman to become a fair amateur or even a professional performer. Many years ago a female ventriloquist presented an excellent act with four or five mechanical figures in the vaudeville theaters of the country. Some one has had the audacity to remark that ladies should not learn, `as their voices are heard in too many places already.` Of course, this should not deter any woman from taking up the art if she desires to do so. Women and men alike can learn to perform ventriloquism.

Have you always wanted to be a ventriloquist? The following links will help you get started on your way to becoming the best ventriloquit possible. Have fun!

Are You Serious About Wanting To Be A
Ventriloquist? Here`s How To Master
This Time Honored Art!

- FREE For A Limited Time
http://theventriloquist.net/